AHH, but even in stereo the demands on the left and right channels are virtually never the same, so not technically all channels driven, very close but not exactly the same. If it was in 7 channel mono then you have the same demands on all channels driven.

True; the "all channel driven" spec makes no difference. I was getting confused with something else.

Jason and Adrian, it can also be pointed out that selecting an "all channel" mode(even all channel mono)doesn't in itself create additional power requirements. When more than one sound source is playing simultaneously, the sound power level is increased by 3dB for each doubling of the number of sources(1 to 2 speakers, 2 to 4, etc.). This relationship is illustrated here .

The bottom line is that to keep the same overall sound level with, for example, 4 speakers rather than 2, each speaker would require only half, i.e., 3dB less, power, so no more total power is used with 4 rather than 2 speakers playing simultaneously. If the total sound level was to be increased, of course more power would be used, but this would also be the result if only one speaker was used to create the higher sound level.